Entries tagged "2023 - Israel and Jordan"

May 31, 2023 Jordan and Israel: Final thoughts Usually when we visit a country ( or two) we tour the sights, learn some history, and enjoy the people and food. Yes, we did all those important May 29, 2023 Day 19: Tel Aviv, Anu Museum, farewell dinner Most of what we did in Tel Aviv was in the Jaffa area because major attractions and shops were closed, so it was a somewhat low-key end to our trip. May 28, 2023 Day 18: Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Ilana Goor Museum Well, it is Shavuot, a “ high” holiday here so most things are closed. Not very good planning on OAT’s part since tomorrow is Shabbat and ditto! May 27, 2023 Day 17: Mount of Olives, Yad Vashem, and travel to Tel Aviv (long) A day we looked forward to, and also dreaded. Emotions ran high, but first much patience was needed. The bus this morning brought us to another holy May 26, 2023 Day 16: Masada and the Dead Sea Within just a few minutes after leaving Jerusalem, you are really in the desert. Our destination today is 1411 feet below sea level, the absolutely May 25, 2023 Day 15: Chagall windows at Hadassah Hospital, then to Bethlehem Although not on the original itinerary, Ibrahim arranged for us to tour the famous Chagall windows. This was a fabulous opportunity as we would not May 24, 2023 Day 14: Pantry Packers, Machane Yehuda (market), more friends of friends, home-Hosted Dinner After a more relaxed breakfast, we headed to the bus for our visit to Pantry Packers which is part of Colel Chabad ,an ultra-orthodox Jewish charity May 23, 2023 Day 13: Jerusalem - The Old City (very long) Finally, it was Sunday, with everything open again, we left very early as we had an early registration at the tunnels and Ibrahim wanted to take us May 22, 2023 Day 12: “A Day in the Life”, Israel Museum O.A.T. (Overseas Adventure Travel) sponsors a program called a Day in the Life. It gives an overview of the home life and the surrounding area of a May 21, 2023 Day 11: Traveling to Jerusalem through Christian Holy Sites, Shabbat dinner with friends Our first stop after leaving the Golan Heights and our “basketed” breakfast was to go down, down, down to the Sea of Galilee. This morning was a May 20, 2023 Day 10: Golan Heights - Off Road Jeep Excursion and more Today turned out to be a remarkable day. We set out from our cabins at Kibbutz Kfar Haruv to another kibbutz located 37 miles further north in the May 19, 2023 Day 9: Elijah, Nazareth, knafee, Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights (long) Today we said goodbye to Haifa and drove out of the city to a major biblical site in the town of Muhruqa in the Carmelite Mountains. Here, the May 18, 2023 Day 8:  Akko and Rosh HaNikra Another UNESCO World Heritage site visited today, the crusader city of Akko. It is spelled three different ways ( including Acre). Ibrahim is a deep May 17, 2023 Day 7: Caesarea National Park, best falafel in Wadi Nisnas, Baha’i Gardens Today’s overview of Haifa took us first to Caesarea National Park, a major Roman ruin area on the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa that is still May 16, 2023 Day 6: Goodbye Jordan, Hello Israel Another 7 AM departure, and time to say goodbye to the amazing city of Petra — and to Jordan. Traveling through the other side of the Al Sharah May 15, 2023 Day 5: Petra!! Petra is considered to be one of the new seven wonders of the world, and we eagerly anticipated coming here. To put it simply, it is something that May 14, 2023 Day 4: Travel to Petra via Mt. Nebo and Madaba It is approximately 143 miles from Amman to Petra and we travelled down the Desert Highway, one of three main north/ south highways in Jordan. As May 13, 2023 Day 3: Jerash, Ajloun Castle, and a home hosted dinner Thursday, Day 3. Jerash and Ajloun Castle, home hosted dinner The day started early with an hour long trip north to Jerash, an ancient 6500 year old May 12, 2023 Day 2: Discovering Amman We started getting a feel for the Jordanian culture on our morning bus tour around the capital city of Amman. It is home to more than 4 million of May 9, 2023 Days 0 and 1 - Amman: Travel and Arrival Sunday into Monday was a travel day- a very long one. We were happily surprised that it went pretty easily. A couple of blips: first, a major NY May 7, 2023 Trip Prelude: NYC -“Leopoldstadt” and MOMA We started our 24 hour NewYork visit with a pre-dawn departure to Newark with- wait for it- everything travel perfect! Spent about three hours at May 6, 2023 Israel-Jordan Itinerary - 2023 Date Location Activity Hotel Sun, May 7-Mon, May 8 NY->Amman Fly from JFK to Amman, Jordan Grand Hyatt Amman Tue, May 9 Amman Explore on our